The New York Times
What a Murder by Mussolini Teaches Us About Khashoggi and M.B.S. (NY Times, Oct. 23, 2018)
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudis has striking parallels with the murder of the Italian socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti by Fascist thugs. In the weeks after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, a question has been repeatedly asked: How could the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, be so…
Continue readingThe Body Under the Rug
The week I finished the manuscript of my family memoir, I had a terrible nightmare: a dead body turned up in my hotel room. “I didn’t kill this person,” I thought to myself, “but everyone will think I did.” I went outside to clear my head and when I came back the body was gone….
Continue readingThe Paradox of the New Elite
IT’S a puzzle: one dispossessed group after another — blacks, women, Hispanics and gays — has been gradually accepted in the United States, granted equal rights and brought into the mainstream. At the same time, in economic terms, the United States has gone from being a comparatively egalitarian society to one of the most unequal…
Continue readingA Soccer Scandal Made for Television
THROUGHOUT Italy’s ride to the World Cup finals, the team has produced moments of beauty, grit and creativity before a cumulative worldwide television audience estimated at 30 billion or more. But lurking ominously behind the Italian team’s exploits, and perhaps even driving a desire for redemption through victory, is the scandal that has engulfed Italian…
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